Kaedehara Taichi had never uimated Karasuno. In fact, he might have been the pyer in Miyagi Prefecture who paid the most attention to them.
Karasuno's offence revolved around the lightning-quick attacks of Kageyama Tobio and Hinata Shōyō. With Kageyama's godlike setting adjustments and exceptional volleyball IQ, every pyer oeam—except for the libero—possessed endable offensive capabilities.
Azumane Asahi, with his power and ability to challenge blockers head-on, and Tanaka Ryūnosuke, who barength with ball trol, were like scaled-down versions of Shiratorizawa's Ushijima Wakatoshi and Fukurodani's Bokuto Kōtarō.
The team's tacti, Tsukishima Kei, used his intelligeo deliver well-timed blocks and offensive pys, sistently shining in critical moments.
This was plemented by the unwavering Daichi Sawamura and the team's defensive pilr, Nishinoya Yū, who anchored their bae.
Karasuno had bee a team that couldn't be ighrough strategic cohesion and pyers with urengths, the team created an impressive synergy, allowing them to challenge any high school team in Japan with their relentless offeyle.
All of this information fshed through Taichi's mind in an instant.
Of course, this was merely the idealized version of Karasuno—the image they wao project.
Iy, their offence cked a true ace who could face blockers head-on.
Once Hinata Shōyō's attacks were tained and his role as a deeutralized, Karasuno's offeeo stagnate.
Defensively, while Nishinoya and Daichi were reliable, they weren't quite suffit to withstand the relentless firepower of elite national-level teams.
In blog, Tsukishima had yet to fully develop, leaving Karasuno without a dominant core presence. Hinata, despite his improvements, remained a vulnerability at the .
What a great team to defeat, Taichi thought with a sense of satisfa as he g the three Karasuno pyers now in burst mode.
"Bring it on!"
Nishinoya Yū's entire focus locked onto Kaedehara Taichi.
As Karasuno's final line of defence, he would never back down, even if the oppo could rack up 24 secutive points with their serves.
Even oh ball, Nishinoya was determio stand his ground!
He lowered his tre of gravity, bent his knees slightly, and positioned his feet shoulder-width apart. His body leaned forward in anticipation.
Calming his breath, Nishinoya raised his hands, holding them just below his face. His fingers naturally spread into a semicircle, his wrists slightly bent—ready to receive the ball.
BOOM!
Taichi unched his sixth serve.
The ball streaked through the air like a missile, targeting the seam between Nishinoya and Azumane Asahi.
"I got it!" Nishinoya called out.
A powerful left-handed serve! Merely receiving it wouldn't suffice—they had tanize a terattack!
Otherwise, Taichi will crush us again with his spikes.
The light in Nishinoya's eyes intensified. To him, the ball seemed to sloith a quick step forward, he moved directly into its path.
Using the inner side of his arms, Nishinoya absorbed the serve's impact by slightly pressing his wrists and arms. His body leaned back slightly, elling his full strength to stabilize the ball's spin and maintain his bance.
SLAP!
The volleyball soared high into the air.
"It's up!"
Nishinoya rolled backwards instinctively, creating space feyama Tobio to move into position.
"Cover!"
Kageyama sprinted uhe ball. His peripheral vision caught a glimpse of Hinata Shōyō already airborne in the front row.
With a graceful jump, Kageyama executed a pinpoint backset. The ball shot toward the tre of the front row, just above the .
BOOM!
SLAP!
Oikawa Tōru, standing in position, anticipated the py perfectly. Even in this situation, he knew Kageyama would opt for a quick attack.
Oikawa stepped directly into Hinata's path.
But Hinata's target wasn't the open court—it was Oikawa's fiips.
Now, Hinata thought, I fight in the air.
The ball ricocheted off Oikawa's hand, flying toward the back of Aoba Johsai's court. It was likely going to be a perfect touch-out.
Or so it seemed.
A figure darted along the ball's trajectory, pursuing it beyond the court's boundaries.
"It's not over!"
Kaedehara Taichi leapt after the ball, twisting midair to send it hurtling back toward Karasuno's with a single-handed spike.
"Damn it!"
Sawamura Daichi dove with all his might, managing a miraculous save.
"Saved!"
Kageyama Tobio quickly repositioned himself, knowing full well that he couldn't let the offence grind to a halt. No matter how chaotic the situation, he had to deliver a set that would allow the attackers to score.
Whoosh!
Hinata Shōyō pulled back, starting his run-up from the back row. With a resounding boom, he unched himself into the air!
"Double block!" Kindaichi Yūtarō and Hanamaki Takahiro raised their arms, f a formidable wall.
Smash!
A tooling shot?!
The 160 cm tall Hinata had mao plete a high-speed spike over the 190 cm blockers!
Sp!
Iwaizumi Hajime had been on high alert the moment he saw the trajectory of Kageyama's set. With Aoba Johsai's own "monster" Kaedehara Taichi oeam, he'd bee desensitized to surprising pys.
Iwaizumi mao dig the ball successfully.
"Cover!"
"I've got it!" Oikawa Tōru shouted as he rushed to the ball's nding point.
There's no way I'm letting my junieyama outshine me!
Oikawa swiftly positioned himself beh the desding ball. Taking a wide lunge, he set the ball with precision as it desded to chest height.
His hands rose above his head, fingers expertly spread. With a fluid motion, he sent the ball s toward the tre of the .
In the middle, Hanamaki jumped and swung his arm as if to spike, drawing Hinata's block upward.
But the real attacker was Taichi, who unched himself from the back row on the right side!
"Block him!"
Ryūnosuke Tanaka and Daichi Sawamura sprio form Karasuno's final line of defe the .
—Boom!
Taichi unleashed a devastating spike, sending the ball straight past Daichi's right side.
It's a line shot targeting the edge of the court!
In the back row, Kageyama Tobio luoward the boundary line, desperate to keep the ball in py.
Thud!
The ball smmed near his hand and ricocheted high into the air.
"It...it didn't go out…" The referee hesitated momentarily before signalling the call.
[Aoba Johsai 6 – 0 Karasuno]
In this gruelling bad-forth rally, both teams had pushed themselves to the limit, reag peak performance. Yet, despite their best efforts, Karasuno had still failed to score even a single point against Aoba Johsai.
Ukai Keishin fidgeted nervously on the sidelihe trajectory of this practice match had gone far beyond his expectations.
If this tinued, fet about growing under Aoba Johsai's pressure—the fidence Karasuno's pyers had painstakingly built during the training camp might pletely crumble.
"Again," Hinata Shōyō's voice rang out suddenly, cutting through the temosphere.
"The match isn't over! Let's do it again!" he shouted with unwaveriermination.
Kageyama Tobio slowly got up from the floor, his gaze lingering on an oppo for the first time—someoher thater.
Fixating on just the setter wouldn't work. Kaedehara Taichi possessed a magic presehat drew everyone's attention.
Kageyama's mind fshed back to a few months ago when he had secretly goo Aoba Johsai to seek advice from Oikawa-senpai. At that time, Oikawa had asked him to set for Taichi, but no matter how hard they tried, their pys had failed to sync.
Now, however, Kageyama felt certain—they could create somethiraordinary together.
"I'd like to try it too…" Kageyama spoke haltingly, his words uncharacteristically hesitant. "The feeling of setting for you."
Oikawa immediately so attention. "???"
"But," Kageyama tinued, his voice growing firm, "only after defeating you!"
Kageyama and Hinata stood shoulder to shoulder, their resolve unshakable.
Kaedehara Taichi chuckled. "Then I guess I won't get to experience your sets."
"After all," he added, his tone light yet resolute—
"I've never pnned on losing to you even once."
_________
[T/N] - My boy is finally growing into a proper ace -sniff- I suddenly feel like a proud parent.
And, if you guys want to read 50 Chapters in advance of the current story, you support me on my Patreon. Trust me, it's awesome!
Link - (P)atreon./Iseebck [Remove the brackets]